… admits Imran Khan, flush with the success of Karan Johar’s rom-com

I am glad for Imran Khan. I Hate Luv Storys is a hit. It had a bigger opening last Friday than Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani did in November 2009.

Pitchforking Imran right beside Ranbir Kapoor in the rom-com stakes. And, God bless, making him the hottest thing in Bollywood currently. The trade has liked the film, the critics have appreciated it, producer Karan Johar is beaming, and Imran’s become the new poster boy of the media. It must be a nice feeling after the duds he had in Kidnap and Luck, and after Ranbir’s last three hits. But more than the girls going crazy over him, more than the awareness that his price will go up, his next film will have a big opening, that endorsements will fall into his lap, what is pleasing Imran most is that Bollywood will now look at him and say, ‘He’s a good bet, this kid can handle himself.’ That’s what he told me at home over tea. Home is 24, Pali Hill, an old bungalow now under renovation. Huge cement mixers rolled noisily outside.

Workmen spilled all over the place. Inside, the young actor sat cross-legged and sighed in satisfaction, “They ordered more prints, increased the number of shows, all this is an added bonus for Dharma Productions and UTV Motion Pictures… because I Hate Luv Storys made its money on satellite, music and digital sales even before its release. Karan kept the budget tight, and from last Friday onwards, every rupee has been a profit. This is a good business model.

I’m glad to be part of it, because everybody can only make money when actors take responsibility for their work. And, I can tell you, this is the first time I knew what I was doing. Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na was a fluke. In Kidnap and Luck, I wasn’t powerful enough to influence the films. But in I Hate Luv Storys, I was in control of my performance.” For that, he raises his hands in grateful thanks to producer Karan and director Punit Malhotra. “They brought out the romantic hero in me… and I’ve realised, it’s fun to explore, but if something works — you do that, and this comes easy,” he said in reference to his failure with action roles. He admits to being depressed over his earlier flops. “My films were trashed, I was trashed, I was like, shit, how do I salvage the situation,” said Imran. And he supplied the answer, “By working as though I wasn’t feeling that way.” That was what maamu Aamir Khan wanted for him. “To fail, to fall down, to figure out for myself,” added Imran. Which is why, perhaps, he is realistic about his current hot status. Or maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet. “I’m going to be hot until something goes wrong,” he said matter of factly, “I know I’ve reached from there to here… but it’s easy to go back. And I want to go ahead.” Life outside 24, Pali Hill has changed for Imran Khan since I Hate Luv Storys. “The way people treat me, I know I’m famous,” he accepted, “a gay icon, a sex symbol, but my friends think I’m an idiot. When we travel together and stay in small hotels, it’s two people to a bed, so where’s the celebrity status then? I still have to fight for the bathroom!”

The filmmaker has proved that when it comes to romance, he is unbeatable

Karan Johar is ecstatic and so is his leading man Imran Khan. Their latest offering, Dharma Productions I Hate Luv Storys had a great opening weekend, which is no mean feat. Trade guru, Taran Adarsh says, “Imran is back in the A-bracket with this film. IHLS has got stupendous collections in India, the film has also stormed the box-office in foreign countries like UK, USA, Australia and Pakistan.” Taran feels what worked for the film is the youth quotient. “Imran and Sonam made a refreshingly fresh screen couple,” he says. And of course he also compliments the marketing genius of UTV Motion Pictures and Karan’s Dharma Productions for creating such a terrific platform and awareness for this film.
Trade consultant Amod Mehra feels everything has gone right for IHLS, right from the budget, to the marketing strategy. “IHLS can become a fantastic case study for film-makers who wish to make their films a huge hit,” he says. Amod feels because Karan and UTV got their budget correct in the first place, they had a winning proposition on their hand even before the film released. He says, “Karan is a genius. When it comes to presentation he is one of the few filmmakers who leave no stone unturned to give his film and his actors the perfect sheen. Imran is terrific in this film. Romance is the boy’s perfect groove. He shouldn’t even stray into other genres for the moment because he has proved it twice over— with Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na and IHLS, that when it comes to light romantic comedies, this boy is great.

The youngsters love this film; and they’re going crazy about Sonam and Imran.” The trade is also sending congratulatory messages to Karan because IHLS is genuinely one of the first certified hits of 2010, the film is expected to double its investment and that is something no film besides 3 Idiots has done in recent times.

Imran Khan will be Coca Cola’s representative from India at the FIFA World Cup final.

Fiancee Avantika Malik will not be with him since she is currently in Europe,but Khan will be taking along a couple of his friends because“it’s no fun watching football alone”.

He admits that he is not a football fanatic and has no favourites.But he did catch two of the quarter final match. “Spain was expected to go through but I was shocked by Germany’s 4-0 demolition of Argentina. Their teamwork is phenomenal and Germany has a good chance of making it to Sunday’s final,”says Khan, who is packing for his first trip to Johannesburg this Thursday. He will stay back a few days and may check out the octopus that has been bang-on in its AFIN predictions.

The actor is going to miss coach Diego Maradona, “but with all due respect to him, I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him dance naked if Argentina lifted the Cup”.

There are many though, and that includes some from the LGBT community,who are drooling over Khan’s “shirtless” look in I Hate Luv Storys. “Dharma Productions is organising a special screening for my Gay Fan Club. I will be going for it,”says Khan.

Big opening Not just the homosexuals and the straight teenyboppers, even the aunties and mummies love his new‘luv’ story.“Older women have always had a soft spot for me,” he blushes.

The film has taken a bigger opening than some of the recent releases, including Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009) and even his own Jaane Tu… Yaa Jaane Naa (2008), and is reported to have grossed Rs 22 crore in the first three days alone.This, after the not-so-happening Kidnap (2008) and Luck (2009), is reassuring.“I wasn’t sure if I belonged hereafter the last two films, but now I know that I have been accepted,”says Khan, who’s doing another film with Dharma Productions.

What is more heartening are the figures coming in from overseas. So far, only a few actors, mostly Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman and Saif Ali Khan have been big draws. “It’s nice that a younger actor who is also a Khan is working there too,” smiles the actor, whose “Idhar udhar ki baatein, vagairah vagairah” is a hit today.

He’s excited for‘mamu’ Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live too,whose trailers opened along with his film: “This is the first time I’ve seen people clapping for a trailer.”

Dharma Productions’ I Hate Luv Storys starring Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor has had a strong opening weekend. The movie has done net business of approximately Rs 220 million (Rs 22 crore) across India in the first three days.

The movie opened with net collections of Rs 65 million (Rs 6.50 crore) on Friday, with the collections picking up on Saturday across some circuits.

The movie’s performance was strong at multiplexes across major centers as expected with occupancy close to 80 – 90 per cent.

OVERSEAS

In the US, the movie’s weekend box office stands at $462,867. While the movie collected $88,110 on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday’s collections were $123,613, Saturday was $140,984, whereas on Sunday, the movie collected $110,160.

In the UK, IHLS was released on 54 prints and has grossed GBP 66,315 on Friday, GBP 69,084 on Saturday and GBP 65,345 on Sunday. The weekend gross stands at GBP 200,744.

In the UAE, the movie opened on 38 screens. While the collections for Sunday are not yet in, till Saturday the movie collected $468,000 on 34 screens.

In Australia, IHLS opened on 11 screens and has grossed $78,000 in three days. On the other hand, in Pakistan, despite a shut down in main cinemas (six main multiplexes), the movie collected $63,000 in its opening weekend.

I Hate Luv Storys is directed by debutant Punit Malhotra and is co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Dharma Productions.

A love story that tries hard not to be stereotypical- Punit Malhotra’s ‘I Hate Luv Storys’ subverts generic clichés and turns accepted tenets of romance on it’s head. It’s also a parody on the industry that seems obsessed with love stories.

The storyline though is pretty non-existent. The plot exists of smartly manufactured ‘situations’ that are strung together by wispy threads constituting several subplots.It’s a romantic comedy for sure but the mechanics at play are different from the run-of-the-mill.

Jay (Imran) meets Simran (Sonam) in a cinema and they feel an attraction to each other. But Simran is more or less engaged to the perfect guy Raj (Samir Dattani) while Jay is too much of a‘love’ hater to make much out of a stray attraction.

Then Simran comes to work for Jay’s boss Veer Kapoor (Samir Soni), the foremost romance director of the film industry and things start hotting up. First they are just friends, then Simran falls in love with Jay, gets rejected and then when Jay is finally ready to acknowledge his love for Simran, she rejects him.

The script turns around conventionally accepted filmy truisms of romance. What hitherto had been a male preserve in a romance gets transferred to the female. So while Simran manages to get on with her life and make practical decisions despite being emotionally suckered by humiliation and rejection,Jay is shown as weeping copious tears, baring his heart to his mother and also gets ridiculed for behaving in girlie fashion when it’s his turn to get rejected.

The relationship between Simran and Raj is typically Ken and Barbie.

He is good-looking, has a solid well-paying job and follows the norm (read cliché) where romance is concerned. They wear the same colours, love the same things and get so boring in their ‘together’ choices that it takes Jay’s entry into their lives to force them to evaluate their own antiseptic relationship.

The discontent is verbalized but visually there appears to be a disconnect. We get to know all this mainly from the superbly written dialogues and not from the visual plotting. The plotting isnot sharp enough it tends more towards ploddy. The so-called fights between Simran and Raj appear to be mere expressions ofminor discontent and not supportive of a dramatic shift in affection towards Jay.

But the parallel plot lines bring in greater rewards. Veer’s attempt to make the mushiest romance of all-time titled ‘Pyar Pyar Pyar’ withreigning matinee superstars shores up the humour nicely. Veer appears to be a cross between Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Yash Chopra with character traits of the former and directorial savoir faire of the latter. His antics thereof are consistently chuckle-worthy.

The second half turnaround where Jay starts to feel his loss appears to be similar to the one in ‘Jaane Tu…’ but it’s not as convincing. It appears manipulative. The run in towards the climax also appears rushed. So much time was spent in establishing the stereotypes that the development becomes haphazard and the runtime gets extended to almost unbearable limits.

Vishal-Shekar’s music also tends to be a drag.

Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor make sincerity a cornerstone of their respective performances. They appear likable and believable. The chemistry between them may not be entirely palpable but the freshness of their pairing and the visible vibe that they share translates well on screen.

Inspite of the lack of a credible story and the predictable ending, this film is worth a watch mainly because of the appropriate candy coloured cinematography, reams of sparkling wit, great comedic timing and humorously edged performances provide for some consistent pop-corn styled entertainment!

If you spot heartthrob Imran Khan selling tickets at a multiplex ticket counter, don’t be surprised. It is a part of I Hate Luv Story’s post release promotion plan which releases on July 2 across theatres in India.

Understanding the importance of post release promotion, Khan has already chalked out the post release promotion plan for IHLS.

As a part of his plan, the actor along with producer Karan Johar and co- star Sonam Kapoor will be seen selling popcorn and movie tickets! He will also be signing autographs, interacting with the audience and posing for pictures while getting first hand response from them.

“I’d rather sell more of tickets than popcorn. That’s more important,” Imran told Mid-Day.

Explains Imran, “For the last few weeks, Sonam and I have been travelling across the country as well as abroad for the film’s promotions. We have been talking a lot. We have said what we had to about the movie, our roles and experiences shooting for it as well as about the music.”

Aamir Khan’s nephew will be visiting multiplexes and theatres across Mumbai on Saturday. “We will begin in the morning when the first show starts and continue till the last show ends,” Khan told the tabloid.

Imran Khan pulled many fast ones on Sonam during a press conference in the capital to promote I Hate Luv Storys. Apart from calling her ‘aunty’ and ‘blind’, Imran had many more witty remarks up his sleeve.

“If you go by his looks, you’d never be able to judge him,” says debutante director Punit Malhotra about the lead actor of his forthcoming venture I Hate Luv Storys. It certainly holds true for Imran, who looks like a serious person, but comes across as a funny guy.

“Contrary to his sweet looks, Imran is a devil to work with. Sonam is definitely an angel,” says Punit about the actor.

Sonam, an aunty
You know what is he talking about when he constantly teases co-star Sonam Kapoor throughout the press conference held in Delhi for the promotion of I Hate Luv Storys. He warns the press people, “She can’t see any of your faces. She’s blind as bat. She can just see me and Punit.”

Not only, this Imran Khan has also nicknamed Sonam as aunty. So when he refers to her as aunty during the event, Sonam explains, “He calls me Punjabi aunty all the time.”

Sonam Kapoor also avenged her leg-pulling by saying that she won’t work with Imran again and suggested that he should work in South Indian cinema now.

Imran, the stripper
Sonam Kapoor had earlier said in an interview that she’d work only with a co-star who’ll strip. When asked if Imran has also stripped in the movie, he says, “I have some deadly shirtless songs and scenes. I’ve stripped more than the girls do.”

No competition with Ranbir
When quizzed about his not-so-warm relationship with arch rival Ranbir Kapoor, Imran says, “I don’t think I have any competition with Ranbir. Everyone has his own strengths and weaknesses. As actors, we have lots of choices today.”

One man, multiple avatars
Imran Khan who is reinventing his looks with each film says he gets bored with similar kind of roles, so he explores. Says the actor, “I’m not comfortable with repeating myself. So I try to go for fresh look each time. I’m being offered different roles also, since a lot of new filmmakers are entering film industry.